It has never been easy to get out of a Cedarvale subdivision, a maze of one-way streets in Toronto, Ontario. Gerald Beeston, who has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years, is frustrated every time he tries to leave. For most of last week, it was “War on Winona.” Google Maps erroneously changed Winona Drive to a one-way street heading north, even though most of the street is a one-way southbound street. Locals called police, the city and Google to fix the error, but a fix took at least four days, with drivers still attempting to make their way upstream. That fiasco resulted in near-collisions, hurried three-point turns, and honks echoing down the block all day long. In other words, it was a week of chaos, courtesy of Google Maps. Google confirmed on Monday that the issue has now been fixed. One neighbor decided to take things into their own hands by making a homemade sign propped up on chairs and garbage cans: “GPS is WRONG! ONE WAY STREET!” A group of kids who had just been dropped off from school got in on the action as well, yelling at cars, “Wrong way!” By Thursday of last week, neighbors had gathered all down Winona and were pointing drivers back the other way. The crossing guard also joined in, yelling at cars going the wrong way. Councilman Josh Matlow said in an email on Friday that Google hadn’t responded with appropriate urgency to the dangerous situation. Fortunately, by Sunday, Google Maps was no longer sending drivers the wrong way. Whatever happened to the good old days, when a paper map was all you needed?
